Week 1

Date: Monday, 10 August 2020

Topic: General Agriculture

Agriculture as a provider of work opportunities

Agriculture is a very important sector of the economy. Previously, Agriculture was only
important as the provider of food. This sector is, however, nowadays the biggest supplier of
job opportunities in many countries, including Namibia.
Explain why Agriculture is seen as a provider of work opportunities in Namibia.
Agriculture is a provider of job opportunities in Namibia, because:
• some people are employed in commercial farms and agricultural projects (e.g. Etunda
irrigation and Aussenkehr grape project) as managers, drivers, labourers, and
salespersons;
• some people are engaged in self-employment projects, e.g. fruits, vegetables, and
fodder production;
• some people work as agents, selling livestock at auctions;
• some people are also employed in agricultural related fields suchas forestry or fishing.
• some people are employed as packers/drivers in food storingcompanies, e.g. Agro-
Marketing and Trading Agency (AMTA);
• some people work as Agricultural Technicians/Laboratory Technicians in agencies
and government offices.

Direct and indirect dependence on Agriculture

Some people in Namibia are directly or indirectly dependent on Agriculture for their survival.
Who is directly dependent on agriculture for their survival? These are people, e.g. farm
owners and farm workers, who get their income from the farm. That means,
without farming, no wage for them. Who is indirectly dependent on agriculture for their
survival? These are people who do not live on the farm and who do not get their wage from
the farm, but who still dependent on farming in some ways. E.g., fuel dealers, fertiliser
dealers, clothing manufacturers, and grocery stores.

Business opportunities in Agriculture (Agri/Agro-businesses)

There are several business opportunities available in the agricultural industry, and one good
thing about the industry is that there is market for all the produce.
The following are Agri-business opportunities worth trying:
• food processing business
• food storage business

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 • animal production business
• crop/egg production business
• fodder production business
• poultry faming
• agricultural tools/equipment production and servicing business
• fertiliser production (e.g. compost-making and vermicasting/vermicompost)
• jam production
• mushroom farming
• making and selling organic pesticides/herbicides/insecticides

Assessment Activity 1
1. explain why agriculture can be regarded as the provider of job opportunities in your
area.
2. Explain what is meant by direct and indirect dependence on agriculture for survival
3. List any four jobs that a person can get in the agriculture sector
4. List two types of agricultural businesses
Answer the activity on the answer sheet provided.

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Tuesday, 11 August 2020

Conservation of Natural Resources

Natural Resources
These are resources from nature such as land or soil, water, animals, and plants that support
the survival of people. That means people depend on these resources in order to survive.
Therefore, they need to be sustainably used and conserved so that future generations will still
depend on them for survival.

Wrong agricultural practices

These are agricultural related practices that we, humans, do, but knowingly or unknowingly,
they cause some destruction to the environment. The agricultural practices with detrimental
effects on soil quality include:
• Monoculture (growing the same type of crop on the same pieceof land every year).
• Overuse of chemical fertilisers
• Overuse of chemical pesticides
• Wrong irrigation
• Overgrazing (grazing all the available grass)
• Overstocking (keeping too many animals in a place for long)
• Deforestation (cutting down trees faster than they can replacethemselves)
• Deep soil tillage/deep ploughing and ploughing along steep slopes
• Use of heavy agricultural equipment/machinery
• Burning at the wrong time

The danger of wrong agricultural practices

There are many factors that can lower the productivity of the land or soil, of which wrong
agricultural practice is but one.

Following are the wrong agricultural practices and their detrimental effects on soil or land.
• Monoculture result in poor soil structure and erosion, as it depletes the soil of
essential nutrients.
• Overusing fertilizers breaks down soil structure, resulting to soil washing and
contamination of ground water. This practice can also lead to soil acidification,
because of a decrease in organic matter in the soil. depletes the soil of essential
nutrients
• Overuse of pesticides and pesticide runoff contribute to contamination of soil, soil and
surface water, and land vegetation.
• Wrong irrigation causes soil salinity, and accelerated mineral leaching of soluble
materials in the soil.

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 • Deep soil tillage or ploughing along steep slopes increases the washing away of soil
by water.
• Overgrazing leaves the soil bare, hence exposing it to erosion by either wind or water.
• Overstocking results in overgrazing, which later cause the soil to be easily eroded.
• Deforestation removes plant cover, and the soil is easily eroded.
• Use of heavy agricultural machinery, e.g. tractors, damage soil structure (compact the
soil) and cause soil pollution through oil spills.
• Burning at the wrong time removes plant cover, resulting to the soil easily eroded.

Prevention of the wrong agricultural practices

Considering the detrimental effects, the wrong farming practices poses to the soil or land, it
is very important that such practices are prevented at all costs, in order to increase soil.

The wrong farming practices can be prevented in many ways, as indicated below:
• Grow non-legume with leguminous crops (such as beans and peas) on the same piece
of land in rotation to increase soil fertility and prevent erosion of the soil.
• Embrace crop diversity, i.e. planting a variety of crops through intercropping to
maintain healthy soil.
• Keep soil under crop cover during off-season times, by planting cover crops, e.g.
clover to prevent soil erosion.
• Practise no-till (zero tillage) or reduced tillage methods, by inserting seeds directly
into undisturbed soil to reduce erosion and improve soil health.
• Reduce deforestation and adopting agroforestry practices, by
• mixing trees or shrubs into operations to protect the soil and enhance its fertility level.
• Adopt organic fertilisers to improve soil structure and fertility.
• Avoid the use of heavy agricultural mechanical devices to reduce soil compaction.
• Maintain correct stocking rate.
• Plant insect repellent plants to avoid using pesticides.
• Practise burning towards to the beginning of the rain season

Assessment Activity 2
1. Discuss the dangers of wrong agricultural practices on the soil and land
2. Explain how incorrect soil practices can affect the soil productivity
3. Suggest practices that can improve soil productivity.
4. Describe how soil erosion can be controlled by improving soil productivity
Answer the activity on the answer sheet provided

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Wednesday, 12 August 2020

HIV and Aids at the work place

HIV and AIDS and the agricultural sector
The agricultural sector is the sector which is at the heart of Namibia’s development on
account of the need for food, raw materials, export earnings, employment and household as
well as national income. However, the sector is under increasing threat of HIV and AIDS,
which since its discovery over two decades ago, become a pandemic on a global scale. The
pandemic is the primary infectious cause of mortality within the agricultural sector. The
disease poses huge setbacks for the country’s agricultural sector, with its socio-economic
consequences not only felt in the agricultural sector alone, but in other sectors and the macro-
economy, too.

Safety measures to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS

The agricultural sector has a fundamental role to play in reducing people’s vulnerability to
the disease and its consequences, and in mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on livelihood of
people living in farming communities. Following are the safety measures to mitigate the
impact of HIV and AIDS among the farming community.

These are the safety measures that should applied by local farmers to mitigate the impact of
HIV and AIDS at work places.
• Educate farmers and farm workers about the danger of HIV/AIDS
• Provide farm workers with counselling and other forms of social support.
• Hold regular HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns
• Encourage farm workers to go for voluntary testing
• Encourage farm workers to use condoms and to be faithful to their partners

The effect of HIV and AIDS on agricultural production

HIV and AIDS affects the most active and productive segment of the rural society, thereby
threatening agricultural productivity and food security.
The effects of HIV and AIDS on a family’s agricultural production. HIV/AIDS affects the
family’s agricultural production in the following many ways:
• Incapacitation (inability to cultivate/work) or death during cultivation time will lead
to decreased food production.
• Loss of farming skills and knowledge as the elderly succumb to the disease lead to
decline food production.
• The family will spend some money, which could otherwise be used to buy farming
inputs, on medications and other expenses, hence lowering production.

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 • The use of oxen to provide food in times of death, plus the decrease in labour force
may reduce the area under production.
• Food production will decrease as family members spend time, which could otherwise
be invested in agriculture, to care for the sick people, to attend funerals and or to
mourn the dead.
• The care time devoted to the AIDS patient/s by the seemingly healthy members of the
household, robs the family of their food production capacity.

Assessment Activity 3

1. Which safety measures can be taken to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS amongst
workers?
2. Why is it important to ware gloves when giving first aid to an injures worker?
3. How can a farmer make his or her workers more aware about HIV and AIDS?
4. What does HIV stand for?
Answer the activity on the answer sheet provided.